An electrical connector typically includes a conductive terminal for terminating a wire at one end and coupling to a mating terminal at another end, and a non-conductive terminal housing carrying the terminal. The terminal housing includes laterally opposed sidewalls and vertically opposed transverse walls between the sidewalls. The sidewalls and transverse walls generally define a terminal cavity for receiving the terminal. One of the transverse walls is a rigid retention wall including a lock nib projecting into the terminal cavity, and the terminal includes a lock edge that engages the lock nib to retain the terminal in the terminal cavity. Disposed between the transverse walls, a flexible hold-down beam has a protuberance projecting into the terminal cavity for biasing the terminal against the retention wall and into engagement with the lock nib. In some applications the terminal can laterally move between and vibrate against the terminal housing sidewalls.
Such terminal-to-housing vibration causes terminal-to-terminal vibration, which leads to localized fretting of mating terminals, thereby leading to plating wear and, eventually, oxidation and concomitant failure of the terminals. Current approaches to reducing vibration use too many components, or are too bulky.